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Strategies & Market Trends : Africa and its Issues- Why Have We Ignored Africa? -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Brumar89 who wrote (1010)	2/2/2009 3:57:23 PM
From: Stephen O	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 1267

Feb. 2 (Bloomberg) -- Zimbabwe, which has the world’s highest inflation rate, slashed 12 zeroes off its currency and announced measures to make trade in foreign exchange more transparent, Gideon Gono, the central bank governor, said. The central bank revalued the currency at a rate of 1 trillion Zimbabwe dollars for one, Gono said in a statement on the Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe’s Web site today. The central bank also lifted all restrictions on foreign currency cash withdrawals. All foreign-exchange trade will be brought “into the visible formal market,” Gono said. Zimbabwe’s has been gripped by economic recession for the past decade and has an inflation rate that was last estimated at 231 million percent in July 2008. At least 6.9 million people, more than half the population, need emergency food aid, according to the United Nations, while the country’s health, sewage and water systems have collapsed, exacerbating a cholera outbreak that has killed 3,229 people. Last month, Finance Minister Patrick Chinamasa allowed Zimbabweans to use foreign currencies for all business, including trading shares on the Zimbabwe Stock Exchange. The bourse has been closed since Nov. 21, after the central bank accused some traders of using fraudulent checks to buy shares. The central bank will require all businesses to apply for foreign-exchange licenses, Gono said. The permits will cost between $12,000 for urban-based businesses and $10 for small- scale vendors. Tobacco farmers in the country will be allowed to retain 100 percent of their foreign-currency earnings, Gono said. In addition, platinum and diamond-mining companies will be required to open foreign-exchange accounts with Zimbabwean banks “to ensure that Zimbabwe’s extractive industries fully benefit the local economy.”